Vegetable peelers have been known and been around the market for a significant amount of time. The most common types of vegetable peelers are peeling blade e.g., pendulum blade which includes a cutting edge, also called blade, and a guiding plate, also called guiding cross-piece, which extends parallel thereto and delimits the thickness of the portion to be peeled off. Such peeling blades are either held on one side by a shank, like a knife, or are supported at both sides between two lateral surfaces which continue often in a handle, thus forming a grip spaced from the peeling blade.
Vegetable peelers comprising pendulum blades which are held unilaterally by a shank are known, for example, from U.S. Pat. No. 2,252,094; 2,351,327 or 3,956,825. The embodiments described in these documents differ substantially only in the manner of pivotally supporting the pendulum blade.
Vegetable peelers comprising pendulum blades which are supported at both sides are known, for example, by U.S. Pat. No. 2,986,813 or JP-A-10 155 647. In the case of the vegetable peeler known from the latter document, the guiding cross-piece extending parallel to the blade is subdivided, thus making it flexible and cutting a more or less thick peel disk of the vegetable in dependence on the pressure exerted. The solutions according to the above-mentioned documents have the disadvantage that the hand, with which a known peeler is held, has to perform large movements in order to be able to guide the peeling blade in an aimed manner.
With a vegetable peeler having a unilaterally held pendulum blade, the user holds normally the shank which extends laterally off the pendulum blade. The use of such a vegetable peeler is substantially effected by a pivotal movement similar to that of a knife. Vegetable peelers having a peeling blade with two sides in form of a pendulum blade are often used with a drawing motion towards the user or with a motion under pressure off the user, the blade following the drawing motion or the motion under pressure. Depending on the embodiment, the distance between the peeling blade and the grip is more or less large.